7/18/2018

LAS VEGAS – July 17, 2018 – Microsoft Inspire – Advantech, Behr Technologies (BTI), Hitachi Solutions America, and Microsoft today announced that the companies are collaborating to deliver wireless communications solutions with unmatched scalability, reliability, and security for private industrial internet of things (IIoT) networks. Since no single technology provider can enable IIoT alone, this joint effort will provide the first mass-market, end-to-end wireless gateway solution to ensure connectivity with sensors for production-level industrial and commercial applications. The solution will deliver massive scalability, the deepest possible building penetration, integration and interoperability with legacy systems, along with extremely long battery life for nodes.

This collaboration aims to meet growing demand in the marketplace for robust and comprehensive out-of-the-box wireless IIoT communications solutions to connect the various sensors used by industrial and commercial customers in their business intelligence efforts. The foundation for the joint effort is BTI MIOTY™, a low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN) communications solution that is the first and only to use the ETSI standard telegram splitting ultra-narrow band (TS-UNB) technical specification for low throughput networks, enabling organizations to deploy private IoT sensor networks with unprecedented capacity, high Quality-of-Service (QoS), and low total cost of ownership. Using industry-standard Advantech gateways, BTI MIOTY will transmit up to 1.5 million messages per day within a radius of five to 15 kilometers, with no carrier requirements. Layered atop this infrastructure, Hitachi Solutions’ IoT Service Hub will enable organizations to connect and monitor devices and analyze the data in real time to dramatically improve operational efficiencies.

First application focused on workforce safety

The first application resulting from this collaboration is a new and unique approach to workforce safety using the BTI MIOTY LPWAN wireless solution on an industry-standard gateway. Using a wearable device to monitor the heart rate of workers in industrial high-risk environments, data on the health of hundreds of workers is transmitted over unlicensed, sub-gigahertz frequencies via BTI MIOTY to a single Advantech base station. From there, it is communicated to the Microsoft Cloud, where Hitachi Solutions’ IoT Service Hub can provide actionable insights on workers’ health and send alerts when workers are in danger. Employers, such as mining site operators, can deploy this end-to-end solution to protect their workforce with unprecedented responsiveness at a fraction of the cost of previously available technologies.

“Through this collaboration
with Microsoft, Hitachi Solutions, and BTI, we are working to deliver an
integrated IIoT solution,” said Stephen Huang, associate vice president of Advantech’s
Embedded IoT Group. “Our Edge Intelligence Server provides a device-to-cloud
solution at the edge. With WISE-PaaS EdgeSense IoT software built into the
gateway, we can provide connectivity and manageability at the edge to simplify
IIoT applications.”

“The BTI MIOTY contribution to the overall, end-to-end ecosystem with Microsoft,
Hitachi Solutions, and Advantech gives customers an out-of-the-box IIoT
solution that provides critical machine data and telemetry in areas they cannot
currently access,” said Albert Behr, chief executive officer of Behr
Technologies Inc. “BTI MIOTY has been specifically developed for massive and
lowest-cost LPWAN communications and is poised to be the commercial standard
for wireless IIoT connectivity. The use cases are endless and it will deliver a
wireless IIoT solution that is unparalleled in the market.”

“Through this collaboration, we can add our unique and advanced
analytics-based business value to the solution,” said Craig Burbidge, senior
vice president of Hitachi Solutions America. “With our IoT Service Hub as the
platform, customers will be able to aggregate and analyze equipment telemetry
data in real time. The actionable insights provided will allow them to be more
predictive and proactive, ensuring a safer and more productive environment with
more efficient and cost-effective operations.”

“With Azure services and BTI MIOTY, customers can implement cost-effective and highly scalable solutions to facilitate the “last mile” of communication for messages delivered from sensors to the Cloud,” said, Rashmi Misra, general manager, IoT Solutions at Microsoft. “Working with our broad partner ecosystem, we are ushering in a new era of IoT communication that will enable organizations around the world to realize the promise of industrial automation in ways that were not previously possible.”

About Advantech

Advantech Co., Ltd is a leader in providing trusted, innovative products, services and solutions. Advantech offers comprehensive system integration, hardware, software, customer-centric design services, embedded systems, automation products, and global logistics support. Our mission is to grow the future of technology together with our partners, enabling an intelligent planet with Automation and Embedded Computing products and solutions that empower the development of smarter working and living. For more information, visit: Advantech.com.

About BTI

Founded in 2018, Toronto-based Behr Technologies Inc. (BTI) is the worldwide licensee of MIOTY, the Wi-Fi of IIoT. The company is focused on commercializing, licensing, and supporting the BTI MIOTY LPWAN communications technology through partnerships with industry-leading technology providers, and the development of new MIOTY-based products and applications for the IIoT marketplace. BTI’s first commercial product using this ETSI standard is the BTI MIOTY 1.0 Starter Kit with Microsoft Azure, which was launched in April at Hannover Messe, Germany. For more information, visit: behrtechnologies.com.

About Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd.

Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. helps its customers successfully compete with the largest global enterprises using powerful, easy-to-use, and affordable industry solutions built on the Microsoft Cloud and enhanced with world class Business Analytics, Portals, and Collaboration. Hitachi Solutions America provides global capabilities with regional offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India and Asia Pacific. For more information, call 888-618-1521 or visit: http://us.hitachi-solutions.com.